Advised for a long time for its life-affirming aroma and enhancing neurons, coffee is now kept around the world as a diagnostic tool at home to help curb the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
A DCN review of scientific literature and anecdotal advice from taste and smell scholars shows dozens of examples of coffee being used as a barometer for a kind of COVID-19 screening test, in part for its different smell and also for its wide availability in homes.
The CDC now lists olfactory loss, known as anosmia, as one of the most common symptoms of COVID-19, with more recent studies indicating that between 50% and up to 80% of people test positive for the virus. they have suffered anosmia.
The apparent good news, especially for coffee professionals who rely on olfactory observations to perform some of their most critical functions, is that it seems that most people with COVID-19-induced asthma ultimately have their taste and olfactory senses fully restored. . At first, scientists were concerned that the disease could affect neurons that make olfactory connections, which would threaten long-term olfactory abilities, although it seems more likely that the disease will only affect a layer of nasal cells that can recover. in about 14 days.
Given the prevalence of anosmia among COVID-19 carriers, the high percentage of asymptomatic carriers of the virus, and the widespread availability of coffee, doctors everywhere are urging people to mask and smell coffee.
“One of the things that someone at home can do quite easily, in a very objective way, would be to have a ground coffee and see how far you can hold it and smell it,” Faculty Professor James Schwob recently said of Medicine from Tufts University. the University news service. “Or do the same with rubbing alcohol or your shampoo. If your nose is not congested and you have trouble recognizing those or other perfumes that are familiar to you, you may want to call your doctor for a test. “
Richard Doty, director of the Smell and Taste Center at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, shared a similar thought regarding the taste of coffee.
“If you find out that the coffee doesn’t taste good or that the chocolate looks like it no longer has any flavor other than bitterness or sweetness, chances are you may experience odor loss,” Penn Medicine said. “When you chew food, the molecules go up the edge of the nasal cavity to reach the olfactory receptors located at the top of the nose. For this reason, things like coffee and chocolate have no “flavor”, it’s really a smell “.
Researchers are applying these methods on a more rigorous scale, using coffee in olfactory test strips, while a recent article in the British medical journal BMJ encourages doctors to use coffee as a diagnostic tool.
Another BMJ article includes the first-person experiences of Brazilian neurologist Sofia Mermelstein, who suspected she might be infected with the new coronavirus after losing the ability to smell the daily dose of fresh Brazilian beans.
As part of a broader effort earlier this semester to keep the campus safe during face-to-face classes, Penn State University College of Agricultural Sciences created a “Daily Smell Check” tool that asks students to students who take their noses to coffee every day.
Of course, smelling coffee is not a perfect science and should not be confused for a legitimate medical test. A food science expert and epidemiologist at Penn State University elaborated on this warning in a recent open-source work in The Conversation that also suggested that olfactory loss could be the “best single predictor of a diagnosis of COVID- 19 “.
“Smell loss is very specific to COVID-19, but not everyone with a SARS-CoV-2 infection reports that there is an odor loss,” they wrote. “Critically, being able to smell things doesn’t mean you don’t have covets. If you could smell coffee this morning, it’s an ambiguous result: it could mean you don’t have COVID-19, but it could also mean you’re infected with SARS-CoV-2 and you just haven’t lost your normal sense of smell. “
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